This is My Family
by happy29
Summary: With Father's day in the next week, Mike Ragland reflects on his life as a foster parent. This is a Hat Squad story, a TV show from 1992


**Notes:**

This is a short story about The Hat Squad which aired in 1992. It was a short lived show, never receiving the full attention it truly deserved. A story about a police captain and his wife who took in three small children when their natural parents were killed. Each boy has his own story, his own past and Mike and his wife Kitty have helped them form a family. There is a new addition to the family, a 12 year old boy. The other three boys are now grown and following in their foster father's footsteps, each becoming a cop and eventually forming an elite squad, known as The Hat Squad.  
I hope you all enjoy! I am going to write more stories but wanted to give a general introduction to the show first.

Noises from the backyard stop me in my tracks on the way to my office to continue paperwork from our latest investigation into the current gang activity in the city. I pull the drapes back from the window and glance into the yard catching my children at play. _My children… _Buddy, Rafael, Matt and Darnell. I love them as if they were my own flesh and blood.

Buddy has Rafael in a headlock, much like he did all those years ago when Raffi would sneak his baseball cards looking for enough cards to fill the spokes on his bicycle. Hard telling what he has done this time to deserve the same treatment, but from the look on Buddy's face, it's all for show.

Matthew has his arm slung casually over Darnell's shoulder and is surely pointing out Raffi's mistakes that have landed him in Buddy's headlock. It didn't take Darnell long before he formed a quick bond with his new brothers. Being the newest member of our close-knit family, he has filled our home with youthful laughter once again. The older boys have grown and moved out but certainly have not moved on, something both Kitty and I are grateful for. They all have made it their mission to help welcome, protect and comfort Darnell.

You see, my wife and I could never have children of our own. Our hearts were broken with the news of never having children's laughter fill our home. Then one horrific night, all that changed. The children arrived slowly, a few years apart, but the laughter didn't come for many years. Becoming foster parents wasn't a choice that we actively sought. It began with the tragic passing of Buddy's parents. His mother had died in a car accident when he was just three years old, leaving him to be raised by his criminal father. With the death of his father, I made a promise to myself that I would make sure Buddy was taken care of and Kitty and I took him into our home, away from an almost guaranteed life of crime.

Each of the boys came to use in heartbreak when their natural parents had been killed. We formed a family, the five of us. Kitty and I would often sit out in the yard and holler at the boys to stop fighting, like all young boys do. We would have to constantly warn them to stay away from the fire pit when we had bonfires, to quit running in and out of the house, everything normal parents did on a regular basis. Our boys were no different than the neighborhood boys, they just each had a tragic past that was slowly healing with each new day that dawned. Each new sunrise brought a little more light and laughter into our home.

The anguish and nightmares of their past never fully goes away, but the boys have all learned to accept it for what it is. Each is unique with their different ethnic backgrounds, but they are each other's _brothers_ and I know they love each other deeply, even with their headlocks and shoulder punches.

When Buddy expressed interest in becoming a police officer at a young age, my heart clenched in fear that he would one day learn the ugly truth behind his natural father's death. I didn't let my fear of that truth overshadow his desire and supported him and eventually Rafael and Matthew as well in becoming police officers like their _father_. It was the three proudest moments of my life when they graduated from the police academy.

I abandon my paperwork and make my way into the back yard to join my family on this Father's day weekend. Buddy and Raffi are now tending to the grill, working in harmony with one another, grilling steaks and veggies.

This is my family, these are my boys and this is our story.


End file.
